Overwhelmed, exhausted, and tired of carrying all the weight?

Fair Play can help.

✽ When parents welcome a new baby, something interesting happens…

Research shows that when couples have their first child, mothers end up taking on the larger load of the extra work, even when couples were sharing household chores relatively equally before baby’s arrival.

And it IS a lot of extra work - feeding, night wakings, researching and purchasing kid and baby gear, changing diapers and potty training, making and attending doctor’s appointments, preparing meals, packing for daycare and school, cleaning pump and bottle parts, rotating outgrown clothes, researching and learning about sleep and development, comforting your child and teaching them about their emotions… the list goes on. And all of this is a 24/7 job - and a lot of it is invisible.

✽ When work is visible it’s valued. Unpaid and unseen labor IS work.

✽ Invisible work at home continues to be the number one stressor for working women.

✽ The unequal distribution of emotional labor and invisible work in at home has real costs, for all of us.

Let’s see this by the numbers. According to the Motherly State of Motherhood Survey Report 2023:

  • 57% of moms said they were responsible for laundry

  • 61% of moms said they were responsible for planning kids activities

  • 52% of moms said they were responsible for household cleaning

  • 58% of moms said they were responsible for restocking items for the household

  • 50% of “breadwinning” moms also still manage the majority of the household workload

Shouldn’t life as a parent be more than endless logistics, tasks, and to-do lists? I think so, too.

That’s where Fair Play comes in.

What is Fair Play?

Fair Play outlines a system for how to divide up household tasks fairly, based on your family’s needs.

Fair Play consists of 4 easy to follow rules, 100 household cards, and a series of conversation starters for you and the people you live and parent with.

Fair play helps prioritize what’s important and who should take the lead on every task - providing a system for communication and getting it all done - from grocery shopping to holiday planning and magic making.

Fair Play is for you if:

  • You’re burned out - “doing it all” isn’t sustainable or fun - this is not what you had in mind for parenthood.

  • You don’t want to fall into patterns or systems that don’t match up with your family values just because they are the cultural default.

  • You understand that time is the most valuable resource we have - and it’s finite.

  • You see communicating rather than assuming as the key to a healthy, engaged partnership.

  • You want to reclaim your right to be interesting separate from parenthood, partnership, or your profession.

  • You want more time for creativity, play, and fun - especially around your own personal passions and interests (remember those?)

“The bottom line is simple: Every domestic task takes time, and the minutes quickly add up. When your partner recognizes that your time is important and that there is value to him or her in relieving you from some of the time burden (less nagging, disappointment, and resentment), he or she is much more likely to share the workload. That's fairness." 

- Author of Fair Play, Eve Rodsky
postpartum anxiety therapist long beach therapy for moms anxiety stress management newborn support

Rebalance your to-do lists ✨ Reclaim your time ✨ Rediscover what makes you interesting ✨

Rebalance your to-do lists ✨ Reclaim your time ✨ Rediscover what makes you interesting ✨ 

YOUR therapist in Long Beach, California

Fair Play provides a framework that allows you to align values, clearly communicate expectations, and creating healthy boundaries so your family (and every individual in it!) can thrive… and I’m here to walk you through it.

Hi! I’m Molly.

I help you communicate and set up your household expectations.

Here’s the thing: 95% of the couples in that study agreed during pregnancy that mothers and fathers should equally share the responsibilities. The majority of fathers report wanting to have a more active role in household responsibilities and child-raising.

What that tells me is that communication about household labor and childcare is not happening in these couples - they aren’t making these decisions based on their family’s needs or their values. They are falling into default patterns and assuming roles and systems that might not match up with their desires or their values as a couple and as a family.

The transition to parenthood is one the biggest transitions you’ll make as a couple. Your home is your most important organization and communication will be key during this period. Together we’ll talk about your roles and responsibilities during both the prenatal period (pregnancy) to prep for welcoming a new child, and the postpartum period to set you up for success. If your little one has already arrived or you’ve already got a full house, we’ll look at making decisions and rebalancing based on your family values and expectations, finding a reasonably fair balance unique to your family.

This is not a one-and-done conversation – parenting means always facing new challenges. You will need to revisit these conversations time and time again, so we’ll set you up for success by creating plans for successful regular check-ins.

Coaching

It’s all a little easier said than done right? With coaching for individuals or couples, I guide you step-by-step through The Fair Play Method. We’ll talk about your family’s specific needs and how to make Fair Play work for you.

WHAT TO EXPECT

  • Tailor-made support for implementing The Fair Play Method

  • Gain the tools to truly distribute the mental load of a domestic partnership in a way that works for your family

  • Help customizing your card deck and setting up family expectations around each task

  • Troubleshooting communication breakdowns and default patterns

Fair Play coaching is not therapy and is not a replacement for therapy. If you’re looking for therapy, head over HERE.

Workshops

Interactive workshops and webinars are a great introduction to the system that provide shared language and an excellent launching point to start communicating clearly about household division of labor. Learn the language necessary to set and hold boundaries, reclaim your time and increase equity at home. Appropriate for couples or individuals.

WHAT TO EXPECT

  • Deeper dive into Fair Play core concepts and how they relate to your mental health, wellbeing and productivity

  • Understanding resistance and common misconceptions & mistakes

Buy the book

Fair Play book - Eve Rodsky fair play facilitator

Buy the cards

Fair Play card deck, fair play facilitator therapist

  • “We expect women to work like they don’t have children and raise children as if they don’t work.”

    Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do

  • “Seventy-eight percent of moms say they are so busy maintaining family stability by being constantly available, mentally and physically, to deal with every detail of home life that they aren’t taking care of themselves.”

    Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do

  • “Invisible work”: invisible because it may be unseen and unrecognized by our partners, and also because those of us who do it may not count or even acknowledge it as work . . . despite the fact that it costs us real time and significant mental and physical effort with no sick days or benefits.”

    Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do

  • “If you’re not careful, domestic encroachment will trap you every time. The net result is that you spend less time on your career and social outlets, and likely deny yourself mental breathers and important self-care.”

    Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do

“Becoming a mother leaves no woman as it found her. It unravels her and rebuilds her. It cracks her open, takes her to her edges. It’s both beautiful and brutal; often at the same time.”

— Nikki McCahon